86% of girls text message friends several times a day; 64% of boys do the same.

59% of girls call friends on their cell phone every day; 42% of boys call friends daily on their cell phone daily.

59% of girls text several times a day to “just say hello and chat”; 42% of boys do so.

84% of girls have long text exchanges on personal matters; 67% of boys have similar exchanges.

76% of girls text about school work, while 64% of boys text about school.

More interesting tidbits about Teens & Texting –

A third of U.S. teenagers with cellphones send 100+ texts a day as texting has exploded to become the most popular means of communication for young people, according to new research.

The Pew Research Center said that three-fourths of young people between the ages of 12 and 17 now own cellphones and of those that do, girls typically send or receive 80 text messages per day and boys, 30 per day.

Study author Scott Campbell said focus groups conducted by Pew also offer insight into the subtleties of teen communication and culture, revealing for example that, while boys don’t typically use punctuation, for girls such nuances are critical.

“If a girl puts a period at the end of a text message (to another girl) then it comes across as she’s mad,” Campbell said, which explains the prevalence of smiley emoticons.

“They have these practices because they’ve learned that texts can lead to misunderstandings,” Lenhart said. “It’s a deliberate thing and it’s also part of a culture that’s interested in differentiating itself from adult culture.”

The mobile phone has become the favored communication hub for the majority of American teens.

Cell-phone texting has become the preferred channel of basic communication between teens and their friends, with cell calling a close second. Some 75% of 12-17 year-olds now own cell phones, up from 45% in 2004. Those phones have become indispensable tools in teen communication patterns. Fully 72% of all teens2 — or 88% of teen cell phone users — are text-messagers. That is a sharp rise from the 51% of teens who were texters in 2006. More than half of teens (54%) are daily texters.

Among all teens, their frequency of use of texting has now overtaken the frequency of every other common form of interaction with their friends (see chart below).

How are Parent’s Responding to it All?

For parents, teens’ attachment to their phones is an area of conflict and regulation.

Parents exert some measure of control over their child’s mobile phone — limiting its uses, checking its contents and using it to monitor the whereabouts of their offspring. In fact, the latter is one of the primary reasons many parents acquire a cell phone for their child. However, with a few notable exceptions, these activities by parents do not seem to impact patterns of cell phone use by teens.

64% of parents look at the contents of their child’s cell phone and 62% of parents have taken away their child’s phone as punishment.

46% of parents limit the number of minutes their children may talk and 52% limit the times of day they may use the phone.

48% of parents use the phone to monitor their child’s location.

Parents of 12-13 year-old girls are more likely to report most monitoring behavior.

Limiting a child’s text messaging does relate to lower levels of various texting behaviors among teens. These teens are less likely to report regretting a text they sent, or to report sending sexually suggestive nude or nearly nude images by text (also known as “sexting”).

Teens whose parents limit their texting are also less likely to report being passengers in cars where the driver texted behind the wheel or used the phone in a dangerous manner while driving.

Cell Phone Uses Functionality

83% use their phones to take pictures.

64% share pictures with others.

60% play music on their phones.

46% play games on their phones.

32% exchange videos on their phones.

31% exchange instant messages on their phones.

27% go online for general purposes on their phones.

23% access social network sites on their phones.

21% use email on their phones.

11% purchase things via their phones.

Texting & Driving

Half (52%) of cell-owning teens ages 16-17 say they have talked on a cell phone while driving. That translates into 43% of all American teens ages 16-17.

48% of all teens ages 12-17 say they have been in a car when the driver was texting.

40% say they have been in a car when the driver used a cell phone in a way that put themselves or others in danger.

What are your Thoughts?

That my friends, is a ton of statistical information. What is clear is that texting has become the favored form of communication for teenagers. 100-200 texts a day? Many will grow to have finger arthritis at that rate. But seriously, what are your thoughts in all this?

Though I see it can be beneficial in being able to stay constantly connected to friends, what I fear the most is that when teenagers grow up relying on less personal mediums that do not requires face-to-face interaction – it could have some negative effects in the way a teenager is able to relate to people in real life situations. It is so easy to text something, especially something seemingly uncomfortable, then to pick up a phone and call or *gasp*.. meeting up with someone. It creates a easy way to not experience the real work of building personal relationship. Just a thought. What do you think?

Do you feel there is little harm in youths sending 100 texts a day?

Do the benefits of constant connection outweigh the detriments of losing real social interaction?

How many TEXTs do YOU send a day?

If you don’t mind – kindly state your age (or age range) since I am going to go out on the limb to assume different age groups will think very differently about this issue.

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Clean Cut Media aims to bring you insightful commentary and meaningful discussions on the impact of media on pop culture. No one would argue that all forms of media from movies to music to advertising has a powerful effect on how we think and what we believe. However it is fascinating to really examine the underlying messages and hidden philosophies behind each story or ad. Posts will vary from examinations into advertising campaigns or philosophies conveyed in a movie, to deeper discussions about life philosophies, discussions about truth and meaning.